MiniMap - HUD Element
Adds a MiniMap to your hud, just like in the days of Morrowind!
v0.7.1


Download Linky: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=26220


Description

Tired of having to open up the local map each time you want to know where you are in a cave? Well, not any more for this mod gives you a MiniMap, like in Morrowind. The layout is fully configurable to suite your taste. Do you want it in the upper right corner? No problem. Do you want it to be as big as half the screen? Once again, no problem. See the MiniMap.ini for more details and settings on the layout of the MiniMap.

The MiniMap now has two different modes: Local and World. They speak for themselves I think but I'll give a short explaination anyway. You'll be able to toggle between them manually or choose to do it automatically on an interior/exterior transition. Zooming is ofcourse possible and there are seperate values used for the two different modes, both values lie between 50% and 200%. Default keys to zoom in and out are the Numpad+ and Numpad- respectively.

The Local mode is basically a copy of your local map. It works by generating textures on-the-fly for the cells around the player and then using those textures to build a complete image of everything within two cells (or just the whole cell when you're inside). There is the option to display door icons, either limited to known or used doors or simply all doors. The appearance of the Local mode texture is determined by your Oblivion ini setting "blocalMapshader". It controls if you have the detailed colored local map or the more vague paper local map. Obviously the latter is less detailed but it also means less (possible) issues (see Known Issues).

The World mode is like your world map, one big texture (the same one that is used by your World Map). It will work for (almost) any worldspace with a unique worldmap. If you are in a world that does not have its own map then the last known world and position is used instead, this is similar to how the World Map works in those cases.

Both modes will have an arrow that rotates according to the direction you are facing. Or if you like something less intrusive you can have a red dot instead of an arrow.

Here's a full list of features for the two modes.

• Local Mode
  • Accurate display of surroundings, including all mod added areas.
    
  • Choose between color or paper style, depends on your Oblivion ini "blocalMapshader"
    
  • Display door icons, can be limited to known or found doors only.
    
  • Zoom in and out between 50% and 200%.
  
  
• World Mode
  • Uses the same map texture as your real World Map.
    
  • Works with all vanilla worlds and mod added worlds with a unique map (the ones I know of).
    
  • Zoom in and out between 50% and 200%.
  
  
• Things not (yet) possible
  • Quest markers, either in Local or World mode.
    
  • Map markers in World mode.
    
  • Names of the doors next to the door icon, it may be possible for the majority of the doors but available room is still an issue.
    
  • Fog-of-War (the black unexplored areas) in Local mode, I have no way to detect or create such areas on the MiniMap.

Installing and Requirements

---OMOD---
Create an OMOD from the archive and activate it. This mod requires:

• OBSE v0018 beta4 or higher. You can find the latest version at http://obse.silverlock.org/.
  
• Oblivion v1.2.0.416.
  
• If you are updating from below v0.6.2 you MUST make a clean save before using this mod.

When activated follow the instructions on which UI mod you are using.

• Vanilla
  
• BTmod
  
• DarNifiedUI
  
• DarkUI'd DarN
  
• OblivionXP, Vanilla
  
• OblivionXP, DarNifiedUI
  
• OblivionXP, DarkUI'd DarN
  
• If you have a different UI mod installed you will need to open your "Menus\Main\hud_main_menu.xml" file and add the following line: . I've uploaded a picture at TESNexus which shows at what line it should be added, If you do not have a "Menus\Main\hud_main_menu.xml" you should use the Vanilla file as stated above.

Open and inspect the MiniMap.ini file, some settings WILL need to be changed or verified.

• The "Critical Settings" section MUST be inspected as it contains settings that will be different for each user.
  
• The rest of the ini file contains details on each setting, probably more than you'll find in this readme.

---Manual---
Copy the esp, ini file, BSA and menus folder to your data folder. This mod requires:

• OBSE v0018 beta4 or higher. You can find the latest version at http://obse.silverlock.org/.
  
• Oblivion v1.2.0.416.
  
• If you are updating from below v0.6.2 you MUST make a clean save before using this mod.

Select the "01 XYZ" folders that corrosponds with the UI mod you are using and copy its content to your data folder. UIs supported:

• Vanilla
  
• BTmod
  
• DarNifiedUI
  
• DarkUI'd DarN
  
• OblivionXP, Vanilla
  
• OblivionXP, DarNifiedUI
  
• OblivionXP, DarkUI'd DarN
  
• If you have a different UI mod installed you will need to open your "Menus\Main\hud_main_menu.xml" file and add the following line: . I've uploaded a picture at TESNexus which shows at what line it should be added, If you do not have a "Menus\Main\hud_main_menu.xml" you should use the Vanilla file as stated above.

Open and inspect the MiniMap.ini file, some settings WILL need to be changed or verified.

• The "Critical Settings" section MUST be inspected as it contains settings that will be different for each user.
  
• The rest of the ini file contains details on each setting, probably more than you'll find in this readme.

Version History

• Version 0.7.1
  
  • Fixed problem with the MiniMap being hidden when first installing the mod. Also fixed a few other problems with initializing.
    
  • Fixed problem with empty space appearing on the World MiniMap if you are near the edge of the worldmap, now it will move the arrow away from the center in order to display your correct position without any empty space appearing.
    
  • Fixed bug that could happen when you travel from Cyrodiil to a Shivering Isles interior (e.g. using a teleport spell), where the World MiniMap would display the wrong position.
    
  • Fixed bug with the transparency setting not working completely.
    
  • Added seperate width and height settings for the Local and World mode.
    
  • Expanded the "iAutoMode" setting to now also having a mode where the MiniMap is not re-displayed after each reload. Default behaviour is still that
  
  
• Version 0.7.0
  
  • Added a world mode that can be used apart from the local mode on the MiniMap.
    
  • New option to automatically switch between local and world mode on transition between interior and exterior.
    
  • Made the zoom in and zoom out steps configurable.
    
  • Added an option to show a red dot instead of an arrow on the MiniMap.
    
  • Reworked the frame a bit and added an optional thicker frame.
    
  • Increased the amount of grids displayed from 9 to 25 (configurable) for when you are playing with either a large MiniMap or zoomed out alot. Grids are only used when their texture already exists.
    
  • The 'Toggle-Key' now toggles between the local mode and the world mode, hold it down for approx. 2 seconds to hide the MiniMap. Press it again to show it, doesn't have to be 2 seconds.
    
  • Corrected a slight positioning error with the local MiniMap, barely noticable unless zoomed in but still worth fixing I guess.
    
  • Half a dozen other changes which I forgot to track, mostly tweaks and small bugfixes.
  
  
• Version 0.6.3
  
  • The MiniMap is now hidden when you're viewing your inventory (and stats, skills, factions, etc).
    
  • Removed a leftover debug line.
  
  
• Version 0.6.2
  
  • Rewrote everything using the power of OBSE v18. Although no major additions the internal works of the mod have been greatly optimized.
    
  • Changed the way the iWaterHack setting works, the previous implementation was horribly broken. This time I've done extensive testing to ensure it works correctly.
    
  • Reduced the number of files generated in a single sweep from 25 to 9. This results in far less object/tree cutoff aswell as reducing the possible fps hit when textures are being generated.
    
  • Added rudimentory debugging, not really spectacular but better than nothing.
    
  • Fixed a few bugs with the water detection for exterior cells. The amount of false-positives should be reduced to zero.
    
  • Fixed a few (but serious) bugs with the door icon system.
  
  
• Version 0.6.1
  
  • Re-added the precise positioning values from v0.5.3 for users that still experience stretching issues.
  
  
• Version 0.6.0
  
  • Finally a proper fix for people with a widescreen resolution or otherwise problematic. See the ini for a setting (iScreenWidth) that needs to be adjusted according to your resolution.
    
  • Fixed a specific crash when entering the IC Market District, other crashes might have had the same cause so they might be fixed aswell.
    
  • Fixed door icons not appearing when entering a new cell for which the textures needed to be generated.
    
  • Added option to turn off the zoom info displayed on the MiniMap.
    
  • Fixed door icons appearing above the player marker instead of below it. They now also appear beneath the MiniMap frame at the edge.
    
  • Fixed sometimes getting weird blotches on the MiniMap due to the distantLOD being off.
  
  
• Version 0.5.3
  
  • Made the precise positioning values of the MiniMap configurable. Should be used to find the correct values for when you experience stretching on the MiniMap.
  
  
• Version 0.5.2
  
  • Added debug setting to halt all MiniMap script processing. To be used to determine cause of CTD for some.
    
  • Made zoom in/out and toggle keys configurable.
  
  
• Version 0.5.1
  
  • Forgot to pack the textures needed for the MiniMap. Player arrow should now work.
    
  • Last minute change resulted in strange layers appearing over the MiniMap.
  
  
• Version 0.5
  • Beta release

Known Issues

• This mod uses a command called "OutputLocalMapPictures" (OLMP) which generates textures to the harddrive of the current cells around the player. They will only be generated once per cell (grid) after you visit it. The texture files are located in "Textures\Maps\.." and are each 256Kb. A quick overview: A quick runthrough from one side of the Shivering Isles to the other results in a total size of just over 42Mb. A larger overview: I explored all outdoor areas on the Shivering Isles and the total size was around 240Mb, and that's a large area! It is safe to delete these files when they become too large - they will be generated again should it be nessecary.
  
  
  
• There is no Fog-of-War (the black/hidden areas on the Local Map for places you haven't been to yet) on the MiniMap and there's nothing I can do about it. Either accept it or don't use this mod.
  
  
  
• When in or around cities, you may notice black areas or strange gaps on the other side of the city walls. This is, unfortunately, beyond my control as well. It happens because there simply isn't any land at those black areas. Under normal circumstances you never reach those areas and because of the Fog-of-War on the local map you never see it either.
  
  
  
• The appearence of the water on the MiniMap can look a bit odd. This is because the sunglare, fog and the time-of-day affect how the water looks like on the textures from the above. Because the files are only generated once per cell it can result in strange transitions of the water color. Two settings control this to some extend:
  
  
  • In the ini there is a setting called "iWaterHack". Setting it to 1 will remove the water reflection and sunglare for one frame just before textures are generated. The result is a smooth water color and the only downside is that the water . Setting it to 2 will also force the gamehour to a user-specified value for one frame. This way, the water will always look the same when it comes to how dark or light the color is. Ofcourse this has a visual drawback when textures are generated so you'll have to decide if it's worth it or not.
    
  • In the ini there are two settings called "fFogNear" and "fFogFar". Fog has big influence on the water color, when present, the water will mimic the color of the fog. Very often this results in unnatural looking water. I recommend values of 0 and 500000 respectively, to temporarily move any fog far far away. Set both to 0 to disable changing the fog in any way.
  
  
  
• Sometimes the trees can appear to be cut off around the border of a cell grid. I already use code to minimize this as much as possible but if it happens alot or really annoys you, you can set bToggleTrees to 1 in the MiniMap ini. Since version 0.6.2 the tree cutoff has greatly reduced.
  
  
  
• Sometimes you'll see dark objects (most often rocks) on the MiniMap, these are objects which were fading in or out at the time the texture was generated. I can increase this distance to force all objects to be displayed but objects that are already fading won't be updated until you look in the direction they can be found.
  
  
  
• Sometimes when you enter a new exterior cell and the MiniMap needs to generate textures the DistantLOD land stays hidden but the trees and objects are visible as normal. This should go away as soon as you move or look around a little bit. The worse that can happen is that it takes a few seconds to restore the DistantLOD. But most of the time you won't notice the effect.

Contact and Feedback

Should you have any questions or comments, you can PM me (kyoma) at the Elder Scrolls Forum or post in the forum thread (see top of readme). Alternatively you can email me at daaf(dot)paradox(at)gmail.com

Credits

• The OBSE team, for the many many new functions they provided.
  
• DarN, with help trying to figure out alot of XML problems.
  
• shadeMe, for support, harassment and suggestions. And ofcourse bumping the mod.....
  
• DragoonWraith, for the mega-help with a translating coordinates system!
  
• Scanti, for explaining how the ModWaterShader command works.
  
• wrinklyninja, for help and advice on how the weather and fog works in Oblivion.
  
• NdranC on TESNexus, his feedback on a beta-beta version led me to great improvements and optimizations!
  
• All the other people whose name I forgot.

A Minimap? Nice

Does it look like the one SirFrederik made?

Hmm should I further delay sleep clicking refresh?

No, this mod is more of a Local Map while SirFrederik's is more like a World Map (atleast, it was last time I heard about it).

[edit]Ah, I see SirFrederik is viewing this thread atm, he'll probably have more details on how his mod is different.[/edit]

No, it's up now.

"Fog of War" ?

It's good, but I seem to have a few issues right now

1. I'm getting repeated CTD near Anvil. If you Fast Travel to the lighthouse, and follow the path down towards the gate, as I approach the steps (where the woman paints), instant CTD before I reach them. I've only observed this in that local.

2. I'm getting blurry issues on the map near cell transitions. I'm guessing this is how the images are put together, but just in case it's not I thought I'd let you know.

On the whole it's great The only improvement I could suggest is a Player Marker (but for some reason mine doesn't show up on the normal Local Map either, so again might just be me).

1. Hmm strange, I see no reason why a certain area would cause a CTD.

2. Do you have a screenshot? I think I know what you mean but I might be misunderstanding your bug report.

Player marker.....there should be one. Argggg, nvm, I forgot to include the textures. :banghead:

Just before the CTD
http://i732.photobucket.com/albums/ww324/Thezezeal/ScreenShot73-1.jpg?t=1249218140

General Shot
http://i732.photobucket.com/albums/ww324/Thezezeal/ScreenShot72-1.jpg?t=1249218141

As you can see, it looks like just the Cell Transitions, so probably nothing wrong with the Mod itself, but just in case

Very nice! :goodjob:

Awesome, congrats on the release! Kinda makes the one I was working on redundant, so I won't bother working on that anymore.

That's not what I had thought, but I do have an idea what is causing it. Could you tell me which XML file you installed (aka, which UI mod you're using)?


Thanks.


Well I wouldn't say redundant, in fact, I was planning to ask how you implemented the World Map concept and ask if I could add it to this mod. Useful for more general positioning.

As for the part before your edit, I don't remember it all but one thing popped into my head. That is how the time-of-day does affect the water color, well maybe not on the ingame Local Map but it does on the textures outputted by OLMP. For example, with a clear weather and during the day, all the water looks shiny and glittering, while, during the night it is just one color. :banghead: There are several other differences between how the water color looks like on the ingame Local Map and how it looks like on the textures dumped by OLMP. To my very annoyance, I wish it would just be the same as the actual Local Map, but nooooo....Bethesda needed to make it work differently. <_<)

I'm using the DarnifiedUI (since this is the only HUD Mod that should be installed). I'll give the others a try and get back to you

Edit : No Change with the different files.

Hey, yeah I was writing something about bLocalMapShader and how it affects the OLMP textures- but you mention this in your readme already. If you enable the shader, all looks brownish and you get rid of the day/night water issues (but it looks less spiffy). I tried disabling/enabling it in script, but no-go there (doesn't update for some reason). Imho, running with the shader enabled may be somewhat less detailed, but it looks a lot better than the mucked up water.

As to the World Map code I used, ofcourse you can have it, I'll send it to you shortly so you can add it to the mod- no need having two mods around that do the same thing Could perhaps be nice to be able to switch to the World Map by pressing / or some such?

Hm, I see you have the doors visible, there. Would it be possible to toggle the names on and off, too?
Either way, this looks like a solid mod

edit: The filesizes are... quite different. Nice to know you can fit such awesome into a size smaller than an already small triangle

Hmm, I know the cause is probably due to a faulty zoom value (probably originated from the script). Could you check two quick things in the console? First, type sqv MiniMap and look at the output. Then type PrintTileInfo "_minimap" 1004. I'd ask that you tell me what it all says but since it's alot of info you can also post a screenie with the text. As long as I can read it.

Yup, this 'water problem' is the main thing that kept me from releasing this mod. The basic code has existed since a while before OBSE v17, but then I discovered the problem and put the mod on hold. It is only thanks to shadeMe that I decided to release it anyways, including the awkward water hack. Then, at the last moment I investigated another possible solution and with some help I found a much better fix for the water problem. There is still some visual blinking when textures need to be generated but atleast the water looks almost perfect.

[edit]But I'm gonna lie down a bit, stupid head hurts again. I'll be back later to reply more questions.[/edit]

Wow, at first I thought Kyoma was releasing the mod that SirFrederik was doing lol
Either way I think it's great that that we have something like this now

One thing though is that SirFrederik's mod had his in the top left corner totally and had the spell icons to the right of it
Is this something that could be added to your mod? It just looks nicer

I'm using DarNified UI, and when I renamed the corresponding xml file, I got CTDs right when the Oblivion loading screen appeared. (That is, when it was loading the game, not when it was loading a savegame)
I read your readme and found the line that says what you should do if you have a different UI, copied the command and pasted it into my usual xml file (which looked just like the one you provided, only without said command line). I pasted it as the third line of the xml, not somewhere in the middle like you did... and now I didn't get a CTD anymore.

When the main menu appeared, however, http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/2276/oblivion200908021521289.jpg

When I finally loaded a game, the mini map didn't appear. The message that the mini map has been initialized or something like that didn't appear either, unless I missed it. Interestingly enough, though, it seems that the local maps have been generated.

Anyways, I played for about one minute when I got a CTD again. And I was playing without ANY mods, just bethesda ESMs.

I have OBSE 0017a and I have followed your installation instructions... and I'm clueless.

I don't know what you did, but apart from the minimap working seemingly flawlessly, it also improved my FPS in caves. Noticeably!
We're talking a 10fps increase here, I assume because loading the cells to take pictures takes the load off for the rest of the cave, which is lovely!

It's all so purty and morrowind-y :3

Unfortunately Photobucket is playing up for me right now; I'll try and get the screen-shots up again later. Hope you get it sorted, 'cos this is a really good idea

Kyoma, as always another brilliant addition to mods that most people have overlooked...

Very cool mod.
But 2 suggestions: the map shouldt be "floating" in the air like that. It should be way closer to the border of the screen. And the frame of the minimap isnt the same color as the other frames/borders

You can configure the position and dimension of the MiniMap in the ini file. Shouldn't be hard to adjust it to your likings.

If there's one thing I hate more than a CTD, it's a CTD which I cannot reproduce. I'll upload a new version shortly which will have a debug mod, you can use it to completely halt the script processing of the MiniMap. Should help determine if that is the cause or, for some strange reason, the XML file causes this delayed CTD. :unsure:

As for the XML files, did you have the latest DarNifiedUI version? Or could you have accidentally used the ObXP - DarNifiedUI file? Cause that would explain why it crashes before the main menu (both would be caused by the XML file trying to access other files but they could not be found). Otherwise I have no idea why it crashed.

As for adding the line manual, you mentioned that you added it on the third line. Was it still in the HUDMainMenu element? E.g.:

<!-- DarN Version 1.5 --><!-- hud_main_menu.xml -->;;;If you placed it here then that would be the problem<menu name="HUDMainMenu">;;;It should be fine to place it as early as here but in case that doesn't work see below	<class> &HUDMainMenu; </class>	<stackingtype> &does_not_stack; </stackingtype>	<alpha>	0 </alpha>	<locus> &true; </locus>	<depth> -50 </depth>	<x> 0 </x>	<y> 0 </y>	<menufade> 0.25 </menufade>	<user1> 0 </user1>	<user2> 0 </user2>	<user3> 1 </user3>	<!-- 1 = explore mode / 0 = menu mode -->	<user4> 1 </user4>	<!-- current mode... 1=stats, 2=inventory, 3=magic, 4=map -->	<user5> 0 </user5>	<!-- last mode... 1=stats, 2=inventory, 3=magic, 4=map -->	<user6> 50 </user6>	<!-- player model first zoom percentage... 100=face, 0=full body -->	<!-- Region text -->	<user7> 0 </user7>	<!-- alpha -->	<user8> Region name text </user8>;;;Adding it here is always good<include src=http://forums.bethsoft.com/index.php?/topic/1022954-relzbeta-minimap-hud-element/"MiniMap\MiniMap_main.xml" />	<rect name="player_grab_zone">		<id> 91 </id>		<target> &true; </target>		<alpha> 128 </alpha>		<x> 0 </x>		<y> 0 </y>		<width> <copy src="screen()" trait="width" /> </width>		<height> <copy src="screen()" trait="height" /> </height>	</rect><include src="darn\hudmainmenu_config.xml" /><include src="darn\common_controls_config.xml" /><include src="darn\hud_settings.xml" />

I'll update the readme to better describe where to add the line by hand.

Hmm strange, I wouldn't have expected it (or even noticed it). I wonder if more people will get a fps increase....

Ok, I'll continue looking for an explaination. Like I said, I know what might be causing it but what what causes that cause.

you can use the INI to set where you want the map to be.

Downloading, looking very good old morrowindistic!
Pacific Morrowind

I've uploaded v0.5.2 which has configurable hotkeys.

Fearabbit: If you still get a crash (after loading a save) could you try setting MiniMapDebug to -1 in the ini? It will halt all script processing for the MiniMap. Also, check TESNexus for a picture on where to add the line by hand in the XML. I hope it is a bit more clear.

Eliteprop: Frame, yes I know it looks a bit different from the standard frames (e.g. compass). I plan to change that but due to developement reasons I decided to leave it as it is for now, it is bit a small aspect of the mod and doesn't really need testing. Having said that, should I just make the frame completely configurable?

I have an, er, "bug report".

It was thundery, and at night, and I was riding full speed to the IC. The cell containing half the bridge did that non-loading thing where it just doesn't appear, and the minimap made an image of total darkness
Nothing major, I'll delete the maps easily enough, but something to be aware of